The invention pertains to doors. More particularly, the invention pertains to doors having at least one slidable glass pane or panel with an extendable screen attached thereto.
Storm doors which incorporate panes of glass and screens are known. Some forms of such doors include screens which are fixedly mounted to the frame of the door with sliding glass inserts. With these doors, the inserts usually can be locked into a plurality of vertical positions with spring loaded latches to expose varying degrees of screen. When the inserts are moved to their fully close position, such as during storms or in cold weather, a person looking at the door, must look through at least one pane of glass and the screen.
In other forms of doors, glass inserts or screen inserts are installed on the doors"" frame depending on the season. In warmer weather the glass insert is removed and a screen insert is used in the frame. In cooler weather, the screen is removed and a glass insert is attached to the frame. With such doors, an individual looking at the door looks through either a pane of glass or a screen but not both.
One known door configuration provides a fixed screen with a counterbalanced insert. In this configuration, the insert is not latched at a selected position on its track. The counterbalance makes it possible to position the insert at any desired position o the track. However, when the insert is in its closed position, a person viewing the door must look through both the glass insert and the screen.
Patio door configurations are known which include sliding glass doors which can be opened or closed to provide access to a patio or a porch. Spring biased screen modules are known which can be attached to the patio door frame. These modules include horizontally retractable screens which can be extended across a patio door opening to exclude insects or other flying pests.
While the known doors are generally suitable for their intended purpose, they all suffer from one or more deficiencies in performance, convenience and ease of use. There continues to be a need for multi-season doors which provide convenient and easy to use screened openings during warmer drier weather while at the same time making it possible to easily close the screened area with a glass pane during cooler or wetter weather. Preferably such doors could be manufactured, at least in part, using techniques for manufacturing existing doors so as to benefit from the economies of scale that such manufacturing capabilities provide. Additionally, it would be preferable if such doors were easy to maintain and designed to be forgiving in the event that the screen is in need of replacement.
Numerous other advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and the embodiments thereof, from the claims and from the accompanying drawings.